Containment and Terrorise

[Katharos]

I think it'd be a net positive to controller play to allow terrorise to generate containment and do double damage without challenging the current control set balance. It affects three main control sets:

*Dark Control
*Mind Control
*Illusion

Dark control wouldn't notice much of a difference because it already has an AOE immobilise for containment generation. The main beneficiaries will be illusion and mind control, an under-performing control set. At 26 illusion gets spectral terror; spectral terror has two abilities, an aura that terrorises enemies around it, and terrify, a copy of a mind control ability. Both abilities are magnitude 3 and can stack to lock down bosses. However, both also have to contend with a magnitude 3 afraid aura, which causes enemies to flee. This would notably reduce the effectiveness of spectral terror as a source of AOE containment damage. I mainly see this change improving the play of non-perma phantom army illusion players. Perma phantom army illusion characters don't need extra damage from containment, and pets don't receive containment benefits.

Meanwhile, mind control play would be significantly improved; mind control lacks a source of AOE containment because of its absence of an AOE immobilise. Terrify is available at level 26 on mind controllers, 24 levels after other controllers have a reliable source of AOE containment. Terrify would take significant slotting to become a viable and reliable source of containment damage. Its base accuracy is 67.5%, its duration is 27.84 seconds, and its recharge is 40s. While it does a small amount of psychic damage, its current state incentivises filling it with procs over all else. Procs are agnostic to containment damage, after all. Allowing it to generate containment encourages slotting it like a real control ability, and for some players would convince them to take it when they otherwise wouldn't. 

There is only one source of terrify outside of the control power sets for controllers, and that would be going three deep into the presence pool to get Invoke Panic. Invoke Panic's stats are significantly worse than other sources of terrorise and aren't worth comparing to standard mezzes available to controllers in their primaries. With a 67.5% base accuracy, a 60 second recharge, a 13.04 duration, and no overpower capability, it's not a likely investment for a controller to make. It's also a pbaoe. Traditionally terrorise abilities, all cones, are used to dull the alpha strike, whereas a pbaoe requires already having gotten through an alpha strike to use. One might worry about dark affinity, because dark miasma has a cone, but dark affinity had that cone removed when it was adapted to controller play. 

On the surface, it seems like adding terrorise to the list of status effects that can generate containment can only improve controller play without challenging the current balance of control sets.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Katharos

[Arklide]

I've been itching for this ever since containment was introduced. Its no secret mind control has been desperate for updates to improve it's overall viability in most gameplay scenarios. Mass Hypnosis may be a viable source of aoe control but is nearly obsolete on teams so most mind/illusion controllers have been reliant on allies or a secondary power pool being able to add more stable sources. All the while many other control sets are layering down most or all the conditions to use it and still bringing other things to table.

Controllers may not be damage classes by design, but it hurts when your ATs inherent ability feels useless much of the time on top of the fact mind and illusion are already lacking the more standard options for actually controlling mobs.

[Burk]

The fact that Illusion does not have any source of AoE containment outside of their long recharge Flash and the tiny radius sleep on Blind means that they would greatly benefit from Spectral Terror helping them out. In fact those two powers are the only ones in the set that can cause containment at all. It would be nice to actually benefit more from my inherent.

Edited May 9, 2021 by Burk